Muslims around the world are preparing for the beginning of the fasting month [Getty]
The Islamic holy month of Ramadan is fast approaching, with Muslims around the world preparing for around 30 days of fasting from pre-dawn to sunset.
Unlike the Gregorian calendar, which follows the movements of the earth around the sun, the Islamic Hijri calendar follows a lunar calendar, meaning that the month can fall in different seasons of the year.
The New Arab takes a look at when Ramadan will begin in 2025 across the world.
Saturday or Sunday?
Traditionally, months of the Islamic calendar begin and end with the sighting of the moon’s new crescent. In many Muslim-majority countries, official moonsighting committees gather to sight the moon by eye, with many committees around the world expected to carry out sighting attempts this year on the last day of February.
Moonsighting attempts will take place on Friday 28 February, or 29 Shaaban on the Islamic calendar, to determine whether fasting will begin the following day.
Among the countries expected to sight the moon on Friday is Saudi Arabia, the home of Islam’s two holiest sites, and a country which many Muslims in the West follow for official Ramadan announcements.
If the moon is sighted on Friday, many millions of Muslims will begin fasting on Saturday, marking the end of the month of Shaaban and the beginning of Ramadan.
If no sighting is made, Shaaban will continue into a 30th day, and the first fast of Ramadan will begin on Sunday 2 March.
Early predictions
Turkey’s official Diyanet has already set the first fast of Ramadan to begin on Saturday, with Ramadan Taraweeh prayers to begin on the evening on Friday.
In Morocco, astronomers have predicted that Ramadan will fall on 2 March.
“The sighting of the Ramadan crescent will be extremely difficult in Morocco on the night of 29 Sha’ban 1446 Hijri, which corresponds to 2025,” Ibrahim Akhyam, a researcher and member of the Islamic Moon Sighting Project, told Morocco World News (MWN).
In Saudi Arabia, a member of the kingdom’s Senior Scholars Council was quoted by Al Sharq as saying that Ramadan is expected to begin 1 March, according to astronomical calculations.
Independent committees
With no official committees for Muslims living in Western countries, a decades-long debate has existed over whether Muslims should follow Saudi Arabia’s moonsighting announcements, or whether local moon sighters should take the matter into their own hands.
Others, meanwhile, have opted to follow the closest Muslim-majority country, including a small number of British Muslims who follow the announcements of Morocco’s moonsighting committee.
This has led to variant dates for the beginning and end of Ramadan in many Western countries, with individuals and mosques choosing different methods.
In the UK, the majority of mosques follow Saudi Arabia’s moonsighting announcement — something which local moon sighter Imad Ahmed calls a “recipe for division”.
Ahmed, who founded the New Crescent Society, an independent group of moon sighters in the UK, says this year’s Ramadan will likely be a divided one in Britain.
“This year, like most years, Muslims in the UK are headed to a split date for Ramadan and Eid,” Ahmed told The New Arab.
“As long as UK mosques follow various dates from different countries, we can always expect this. New Crescent Society proposes that UK Muslim ‘bring the moon back home’ and no longer rely on word from abroad, and start to observe the moon here, in our own skies, returning our calendar back to the community.”
